this is bbc news, i'mjane hill. the headlines: teaching unions are meeting government scientific advisers to seek assurances over safety, amid plans to reopen schools in england next month. wales‘ first minister says he's sticking with the stay at home message, and won't give a timetable for easing the lockdown. new research finds the coronavirus infection rate in london is now far lower than in other parts of england, particularly the north east and yorkshire. as people in england are now able to travel to enjoy the open air this weekend, the rnli urges extra care by the coast, as lifeboat services remain very limited. and back in the pub —

people are socialising again in sydney, as lockdown ends in australia's most populus state. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. teachers‘ unions are meeting the government's scientific advisers to demand assurances that it will be safe to allow more children to return to schools in england next month. some teachers argue social distancing will be difficult, particularly for young children, and they've called for the government to publish the scientific evidence which suggests the move will be safe. ministers have warned that children from poorer backgrounds will suffer the most if they're kept at home, and the head of one of england's biggest academy trusts says he's ready to reopen all 35

of its primary schools. elaine dunkley reports. it has been a week of clashes over classes. a row between the government and teaching unions over whether it is safe for primary schools to reopen children in reception, year one and year six from the 1st ofjune. today the teaching unions will meet with the government's scientific advisers to seek reassurances. this requires a knowledge which i don't have, which is why today's meeting with the scientific specialists ought to give us the reassurance about what social distancing will look like in school, what are transmission rates from children to adults and the other things that legitimately parents as well as the teaching profession are quite rightly asking. more guidance has now been published on how schools in england can partially reopen. the government says it is vital that children return to the classroom as soon as possible for learning and well—being. education around how we deal with this virus

is an important part of our life, sadly, for the next period of time, for the next few months at least, until we have got a vaccine in place. i think that is an important part of it as well, but we shouldn't underestimate the importance of giving children, particularly at that young age, the ability to be in school, in a safe environment and getting the education that they need. the oasis trust runs 35 primary schools across england and says the impact of closures will be felt most by children from poorer backgrounds. it is hoping to reopen classrooms from the 1st ofjune. it is exactly the middle of may so we have half a month still to do the fine detail to get ready for this. what i can assure you of, no one's health will be put at risk whether it is a child's or a staff member's or a parent's. we respect everything the unions are doing, but we also know that we have to, for the sake of our children, offer them some hope, some education and some nutritious food. teachers are in a difficult position. for many it is a dilemma over

wanting the best education for children and health and safety concerns. i think sending children and staff back to schools is potentially extremely dangerous in a situation where we don't actually know how that will affect anybody, both physically and mentally. i think mental health—wise, the children will be going back to a very different experience of school, with lots of rules to have to adhere to, with staff who will be understandably very anxious. the coronavirus pandemic poses many challenges to life in our classrooms. it is an emotive issue, but for schools to reopen, teaching unions say scientific evidence must be the basis of solutions. elaine dunkley, bbc news. wales‘ first minister, mark drakeford, has set out plans for easing the lockdown there. mr dra keford announced what he called a "traffic light" system, but warned he couldn‘t give a clear timetable for when restrictions would be lifted.

set on its own roots, wales‘ way out of lockdown will be deliberately slow and based on these, a traffic light system. the first stage is red, with little changing but people will be allowed to receive care and support from one person from outside their home. in the amber phase, some school pupils will return, more people are allowed to travel to work and meet in small groups. the green light for all pupils to go back to school and unrestricted travel will only come when it‘s certain there is little risk of cases rising and another lockdown. nothing could be worse for our economy, nothing could be a greater ask of our people than to go through this all again. we don‘t want that to happen, that‘s why we are taking this very step—by—step and cautious approach and the traffic light system is there to explain to people in wales how that will work out.

unlike england‘s road map there are no dates, just destinations reached only when the virus‘ reproduction rate falls. that caution is based on concern in welsh hospitals that they couldn‘t cope with an increase in cases, especially in rural areas where a surge of visitors could bring a second wave. i am fearful of outbreaks that will crop up here and there. so there might be family outbreaks, caravan park outbreaks, nursing home outbreaks or indeed hospital ward outbreaks that we‘ve got to be very vigilant towards and be on the lookout for all the time. but those same rural areas are already suffering financially. tourism along the welsh coast should be in full flow by now. instead, the police are carrying out spot checks for day—trippers and fining people found to be making nonessentialjourneys. the spring shutdown may roll into the summer. we will definitely welcome you back

when the time is right and when we can all be sure that we will be safer than we are at present from this virus. when do you hope that might be? who knows. it is up in the air at the moment. this year? possibly, possibly not. there is no rush to move faster here. let‘s go to cardiff and talk to our correspondent tomos morgan, who is outside the welsh assembly. very keen to not only sate no specific timetable but also talking, mark drakeford, specific timetable but also talking, mark dra keford, how specific timetable but also talking, mark drakeford, how he felt he had not been given information prior to borisjohnson not been given information prior to boris johnson announcing it not been given information prior to borisjohnson announcing it in terms of the change of message.” borisjohnson announcing it in terms of the change of message. i think the devolved governments across the uk were quite frustrated on monday after boris johnson‘s uk were quite frustrated on monday after borisjohnson‘s news address sunday night. i think one of the clear issues then on monday was the

fa ct clear issues then on monday was the fact that boris johnson hadn‘t clear issues then on monday was the fact that borisjohnson hadn‘t made it clear that the lifting of restrictions he had been talking about was referring to england only comments on monday there was a huge battle in the national press to make sure that everyone knew that actually the restrictions that each devolved government is only applied to them and borisjohnson‘s only applied to england. now we hear that mark drakeford applied to england. now we hear that mark dra keford was applied to england. now we hear that mark drakeford was not made aware until that address had been made that the message stay home had now been changed by borisjohnson to stay alert. there is frustration accumulating because mark drakeford says there has been not a reluctance but there hadn‘t been any discussion between the devolved administrations in the first three weeks and it came to the end and they had to rush to make meetings on whether anything was going to change. in wales,

libraries have reopened, garden centres have reopened, people can go out more than once a day but crucially different to in england. people can only go at locally in wales whereas in england they can travel. the message then was, what if people travel from england to wales ? if people travel from england to wales? the welsh government made it clear that if people do so they will be fined and sent back. the other big talking point as schools. the other big argument with unions today, of whether schools will be ready to reopen on the ist ofjune. the welsh government has said they will not be opening on the ist of june and will take the guidance from scientific and medical professionals. i hope to be talking more about the situation in wales a little bit later in this hour.

in australia‘s most populous state the lockdown has been eased with pubs and cafes open again in new south wales, although with strict new rules in place. there‘s been fewer than 100 deaths across the country during the pandemic and the government is keen to kickstart the economy. shaima khalil reports from sydney. cheers. it‘s the day they‘ve been waiting for after weeks of tight restrictions. back in the pub for a drink, but only if you sit down for a meal. here at the royal albert pub they have been fully booked for lunch, allowed only to serve a maximum of ten customers, while observing strict social distancing and hygiene rules. tables have been set 1.5 metres apart with hand sanitiser and offer instead of the normal sources and cutlery. it‘s nice, it‘s a little bit different to the usual set up but yeah, it feels good to be back. it'sjust good to relax, you know. a drink after work or even

lunchtime on friday. it‘s a small start but still a big day for michael bane, the landlord here. kind of nervous, it‘s almost like opening a new venue now because it‘s totally different ci rcu msta nces. only ten people, but we are happy to have ten. we‘re not going to make millions of dollars but we will make ends meet. and it‘s notjust pubs, all across new south wales, cafes, restaurants and shops and places of worship have also opened their doors. for william welsh, it‘s a step in the right direction, after weeks of only being allowed to serve takeaways. it feels like it‘s the beginning again of, i guess, everybody is selling a new normal and that‘s what it is. we‘ve got tables now open, people can sit down and we can get back to doing what we do best and we feel good. but not everyone is open. some business owners have said the ten people limit is not financially viable and have decided to wait for further

easing of restrictions. the leadership is keen to open up the country as soon as possible, but they don‘t want to lose the gains they‘ve made in controlling the virus. health officials have warned that more covid—i9 cases are expected with the increase in people‘s movement, but generally, australia is in a much better position than many other countries. that‘s why they are cautiously reopening the economy. but it‘s not the same across the country, while rules are being relaxed in new south wales, restrictions in the state of victoria won‘t be lifted before the end of the month. there are still many limits to daily life here in australia, and people are encouraged to work from home when they can. for now, some are enjoying their small gatherings, even if it may not be business as usual. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, sydney. new analysis suggests the rate of coronavirus transmission in london has dropped dramatically. the data, from public health england and cambridge university, suggests the infection rate in the capital is far lower than other parts of england,

particularly the north east. also, there has been encouraging news from the oxford team which is searching for a vaccine. our health correspondent richard galpin reports. for weeks, london, with its population of more than 9 million people, was at the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in this country. hospitals here filling up with patients and, later, field hospitals built to provide extra capacity. but by then, barely needed. this one in east london mothballed — a sign the tide was turning. now, new analysis is indicating the situation in the capital is improving significantly. and this, very different from other parts of england. according to the modelling by public health england and cambridge university, the so—called r number in london, the number of people one person in the city carrying the virus

infects, is just 0.4 and that means the number of cases is plummeting. but in the north—east and yorkshire, it‘s 0.8, a much slower decrease and not far away from the level of which cases would start to increase. other parts of northern england such as liverpool, also have slower decreases in covid cases, according to the modelling. that impacts the push to lift some of the key lockdown measures. before levels of coronavirus infections are higher than anywhere else, but i am not about to take risks with children‘s lives all with staff and teaching and professional‘s lives and we will make sure, as far as i am concerned, it is safe for our children to return to school and only when we are convinced it is safe children can return to school, will we allow it. meanwhile it has been announced there has been a potentially good

step forward in oxford university‘s work to develop a vaccine. a small study of monkeys showed the experimental vaccine appeared to offer protection against coronavirus, the monkeys developed antibodies. it is a small and important step, although it does not show whether the coronavirus vaccine will work in humans. richard galpin, bbc news. let‘s talk a bit more about the data out today that suggests the transmission rate is a lot lower in the capital than in the north—east of england for example. we have heard that gateshead council has said to be sticking to the stay at home advice, which we have discussed is still used in scotland, wales and northern ireland. at lunchtime, downing street said lockdown could be used at different rates in

different parts of england. there is really quite a lot of variation now. let‘s discuss what it all means. let‘s speak now to alice wiseman, director of public health for gateshead. a very good afternoon to you. good afternoon, thank you for having me. your thoughts first of all about the data out today that i mentioned, the fa ct data out today that i mentioned, the fact that figures are much lower in the capital than where you are?|j guess i am not surprised with that data because we have been seeing the number of people who are admitted to hospital increasing and also the number of people sadly dying as a result of covid—i9. there is a slight difference in time to the south of england so i guess i‘m not surprised that we don‘t have a r value that is lower than that of london. and the council has been saying we are going to stick to the stay at home rule as other parts of

the uk are doing, is that helpful for you as someone the uk are doing, is that helpful for you as someone who leads public health? obviously, that third political decision from our leaders and the issue we have locally is that we don‘t necessarily have all the data yet and so we only have partial testing data based on the tests that are undertaken in our local labs. we haven‘t yet managed to access the tests that have been taken through the national testing system, so i welcome the opportunity to be more cautious. our primary focus is to protect the population, thatis focus is to protect the population, that is what myjob is and what i am here to do. any opportunity to be more cautious in the north—east, until we have the full picture, i welcome. of course, and i meant the question from that perspective. it is yourjob to protect public health to the best of your ability and politicians are having to think about economic consequences as well, so about economic consequences as well, so that is the issue that we debate

all the time. what did you, when you sit down with your team, what are you saying about next week, the week after that, how you feel you would like the public in your area to be behaving to try to best protect individual lives and protect the hospitals and gp surgeries where you are? as with the national messages, we wa nt are? as with the national messages, we want contact to a minimum. we wa nt we want contact to a minimum. we want people to continue to socially distance, we want people to continue to use the shops and our leisure spacesin to use the shops and our leisure spaces in a responsible way. we want people to be able to have opportunity to have those connections, because we also recognise the importance of well—being more generally and the impact that lockdown has. we will continue to promote the message of hand hygiene, i know it sounds a really simple message but ensuring you are washing your hands regularly, that you aren‘t touching your face regularly, that you aren‘t touching yourface until regularly, that you aren‘t touching your face until you have washed your hands after being outside. some of

those simple messages are still critically important at the moment. some of the other things we are thinking about is how we can work best as a local system with the track and trace steps which we are anticipating over the next couple of weeks. how can we best to provide support to our public health england teams who are really the experts and on the forefront of dealing with some of these broader issues. and very interesting that you mention wash your hands, because we talked about that so much at the beginning, seven weeks ago, every interview we did almost was about washing your hands and i feel as did almost was about washing your hands and ifeel as if did almost was about washing your hands and i feel as if that really basic message has been forgotten about, but it is so interesting that you, with your health expertise, remind us that that is extraordinarily important. absolutely, that is one of the fundamental things that you can do to protect yourself and your family.

keeping a social distance, keeping two metres apart, whether you are in a public space or a supermarket, and keeping that general hand hygiene, they are two of the really big things you can do to keep you and yourfamily safe. things you can do to keep you and your family safe. thank you so much. good to talk to you. a slight break—up on alice‘s at line there but i think we very much got the essence of what she was talking about and we will talk much more of course for most of the afternoon about the coronavirus pandemic. with the time at 2:20pm, we are going to turn our attention to a different story. the uk‘s chief brexit negotiator, david frost, has said "very little progress" has been made in trade talks with the eu. he‘s been speaking at the end of the third round of negotiations regarding britain‘s future relationship with brussels. gavin lee is our correspondent in brussels. how our days that used to be

dominated by this. i think the audience might be forgiven for not actually quite knowing what point we are out in discussions. explain exactly what has happened today. it is still bubbling away in the background. there has been a week of negotiations, every week over the course of the last three months, so since the start of march, the last two of course have been a video conferencing and teams up to 100 on either side, sometimes a0 separate video conferences going on at the same time we were told by michel barnier today and he said that was far less effective than person—to—person, because one of the problems is, when things are going badly between both sides on the trade deal, maybe two of the senior figures can step outside, have a coffee separately and work some kind ofa coffee separately and work some kind of a compromise, that hasn‘t happened. so today, we have had this a—page statement from david frost, the uk‘s chief negotiator, saying basically that he is disappointed, that basically the uk is trying to

be bound by eu on an unbalanced approach to keeping the uk fixed to common rules, basically calling it a level playing field as it is known, to fix rules that are unfair on the uk, particularly on fishing as well he said. that the eu want access to uk waters in a way that does not fit with an independent coastal nation. michel barnier hasjust with an independent coastal nation. michel barnier has just been speaking a short while ago in response. the eu‘s chief negotiator. he said he told david frost personally after these talks that he was very, very disappointed. that he feels that he is no longer optimistic. but there will be a trade deal, he is determined to carry on, but he said the british don‘t seem to get the effects of brexit and also that they want some kind of deal that other members states have with the customs union and signal markets but they don‘t wa nt and signal markets but they don‘t want their obligations. —— single market. it is very truly at an impasse right now. just reminders of

the dates and deadlines. this is a good point. the important thing in all of this is that we are one set of talks away from what is being described... where both sides and june decide if they carry on? have they made enough progress, do they say forget it, britain cuts off in terms of any agreed trade policy, or do they carry on and try to meet this point by the end of the air whether uk is set to make sure that isa whether uk is set to make sure that is a deal in place by then. the wheels haven‘t quite fallen off yet, michel barnier saying he will not give up on it. the uk side see the eu... police in england and wales have issued more than 1a,000 fines for alleged breaches of the lockdown laws. latest figures, which cover most of the lockdown period, show the metropolitan police handed

out more than 900 fines, the most of any force. the national police chiefs‘ council said the numbers demonstrated officers were taking a "proportionate" approach. but in the last few minutes, the crown prosecution service has said dozens of people have been wrongly charged by police under new coronavirus laws. the congestion charge in central london is being reintroduced from monday, after being suspended because of coronavirus. it follows a deal in which transport for london secured emergency funding to keep tube and bus services going until september. the congestion charge will also rise from £11.50 to £15 from next month. the mayor of london, sadiq khan, said the measures were designed to avoid a build up of traffic after the government urged people to avoid public transport.

a cross party group of mps has urged the government to bring in a new privacy law to protect people using contact tracing apps. the software could play an important role in letting people know if they‘ve been in contact with anyone who is infected with the virus. an nhs app being trialled on the isle of wight has been downloaded by about half the people there and the common‘s human rights committee says there needs to be more safeguards over the data collected. duncan kennedy reports. the modernity of the nhs contact tracing app may be in contrast to the isle of wight‘s rich heritage, but that hasn‘t stopped around 17,000 people embracing it here. from carisbrooke castle this morning to newport high street, the capital of an island where now more than half the population have downloaded the app, including this man. if i‘m really honest it‘s for my own safety, my family‘s safety and everybody else‘s safety.

but for these two friends, the story is more complicated. have you downloaded the app? i haven‘t. i have. why haven‘t you? my details, i‘m just worried in case they get any of my details of my phone. and why have you? because i want to know if i'm near anyone who's got it. the app electronically connects people who have been close for a period of time. if one person develops covid symptoms they have to inform the nhs, who in turn messages other people to warn them. but since the start of the trial on the isle of wight some people have concerns about data privacy and today mps formally called on the government to pass a special outlaw. ——app law. this sort of data gathering was never envisaged when the current laws were drawn up. what we are suggesting is you should have a specific, bespoke bill to enable people‘s data to be protected. we have drafted it for the government and they could get it

through parliament before the national roll—out. that national roll—out was supposed to be taking place about now, in the middle of may. it is one of the key tools the government is relying on to keep tabs on covid—19 in the community. and local leaders here say the main lesson they have learned about the app is that persuasion, not compulsion, is the way to bring communities on board. the country as a whole can take this, but it needs to be done carefully, people need for it to be safe and they need to be able to take the opportunity because it is really important for the country really. 70,000 downloads among around 90,000 smartphone users. the ratio here seems strong, but will the nation follow an island to help bring this contagion under control? duncan kennedy, bbc news, on the isle of wight. social isolation gets to all of us — no matter how big or small. three peruvian penguins from kansas city zoo in the us have

been given a day pass to tour a museum at their leisure. is this real? zoo keepers said it was a chance to boost their spirits as they miss social interaction. what about us going back on to museums? iam really what about us going back on to museums? i am really missing art galleries. anyway, answers on the back of the postcard, as that used to say. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with louise lear. it has been a quiet day and that cloud is going to stay with us through the evening and overnight. that will act like a blanket preventing those temperatures from falling too far. at the same time we still keep a bit more of a breeze and some outbreaks of light rain into the far north of scotland. frost free, that will keep gardeners and growers happy for the start of

the weekend and potentially, it is the weekend and potentially, it is the last time we see a significant frost for quite some time. it may well start of cloudy but hopefully the crowd will break, we will see some sunshine, the sun is quite strong at this time of year and with lighter winds it will feel quite pleasa nt lighter winds it will feel quite pleasant out there. still the risk ofa pleasant out there. still the risk of a few sharp showers to the far north and west and across northern ireland. temperatures ranging generally around 12 to 18 degrees, pretty much what they should be for this time of year. there is a risk for more heavy, persistent rain for the second half of the weekend into the second half of the weekend into the far north—west but conditions look set to warm up as a going to next week, perhaps into the mid 20s.

hello, this is bbc news with jane hill. the headlines: teaching unions are meeting government scientific advisers to seek assurances over safety — amid plans to reopen schools in england next month.

wales‘s first minister says he‘s sticking with the stay at home message, and can‘t give a timetable for easing the lockdown. new research finds the coronavirus infection rate in london is now far lower than in other parts of england, particularly the north east and yorkshire. as people in england are now able to travel to enjoy the open air this weekend, the rnli urges extra care by the coast — as lifeboat services remain very limited. cheers, man. and, back in the pub — people are socialising again in sydney, as lockdown ends in australia‘s most populus state. much more to come. sport now, and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here‘s katerine downes. good afternoon. we are going to start with some

breaking news because it has been reported that league 2 clubs have agreed to cancel the rest of the season. the plan is to settle the table via a weighted points—per—game system, with two—legged play—off semi—finals and then a final. the move needs ratifying by the board but the decision was taken largely because clubs can‘t afford covid—19 tests and to pay players coming off furlough. league one clubs have failed to reach an agreement on whether to end their season after meeting today — they‘ll discuss the subject again next week. among the clubs with a lot to lose is rotherham, who were in the second automatic promotion spot from league one, when the season was halted. well, i did with my financial director of the accounts up to may and it showed while there would be £600,000 with cash flow problems by the end of may. that ran into christmas behind closed doors, it would be over £1 million and i think the league1

would be over £1 million and i think the league 1 and league 2, that would be a disaster and it would follow with a lot of clubs having to go into administration. the next meeting of premier league clubs is set for monday, when players may be able to return to group training, under strict social distancing rules. they‘ve so far been limited to individual sessions so this would be the next step towards restarting the league — which would be good news for liverpool, who are 25 points clear at the top of the table. managerjurgen klopp says he appreciates the steps that have to be taken before any resumption is possible. we all have the same problems and we have to make sure that we do the right things, obviously. in the moment when we can start again the premier league will organise it and all the clubs have to organise it, all the things, training will not be a threat for anybody because when we start there is enough space on the pitches for the players, so i think the premier league

grounds will be the safest places, the training grounds will be the safest places in europe. you can see the full interview with jurgen klopp on football focus tomorrow, as well as a special feature on his formative years as a player and coach in germany. that‘s on bbc one, from 12 o‘clock. with the bundesliga restarting tomorrow, women‘s football in germany is set to resume in two weeks‘ time. the sweden goalkeeper hedvig lindahl plays herfootball with wolfsburg, after transferring from chelsea last year. she says she fears not everyone will be match—fit — but she‘s happy with the safeguarding regulations in place. there are a rigorous amount of rules we have to follow to be able to play, but i am the first one to think it is good they are in place because we shouldn‘t take risks, it is not only me who would bring it home to kids, there would be others with risk groups that they meet. so

iam with risk groups that they meet. so i am confident that the club and eve ryo ne i am confident that the club and everyone involved in taking these decisions have our best interests in them and i feel safe. two grands prix are set to be held at silverstone this summer, after the track‘s owners agreed a deal with formula one bosses. formula one are looking to revise their calendar to get enough races completed in the season — so some circuits will host more than one race. however two—week quarantine rules on international arrivals to the uk could scupper the plans — and the races will be subject to government approval. the british grand prix is scheduled for the 19th ofjuly, behind closed doors, with a second race a week later. world rugby has confirmed that all this summer‘s tours have been postponed, due to the coronavirus pandemic. with many countries restricting movements and some borders closed, it was always expected. england were due to return to japan, where they reached the world cup final last year, to play two matches. head coach eddiejones said the squad was disappointed but it was the right decision in the circumstances.

wales were due to tour japan and new zealand, with scotland due in south africa and new zealand, and ireland heading to australia. all tours offer this summer. —— off this summer. that‘s all the sport for now. sports days are a long—standing tradition in british schools but how do you go about arranging an egg and spoon race or a sack race when the majority of pupils are at home? one primary school in gloucestershire decided to go ahead with theirs today — virtually. let‘s find out how. i‘m joined now by helen cooper who is the headteacher of powell‘s church of england primary school in cirencester and pe coordinator, emma burry. very good afternoon to both of you. helen, this was your idea. where did this all come from? well, at the

school we try to offer a broad curriculum as possible and sport and be an act that. so we were still delivering support for our home learning and using our specialist coaches such as our gymnastics and dance coaches to deliver at home. usually in this point in the year we would be planning our usual sports day and so we came up with the idea it would be really good for the children to be able to participate at home using our coaches and teachers and ideas. the head teacher finds you up and says hey, great idea, we can do it still but virtually and you can sort it out, no pressure. yes, i will not lie, virtually and you can sort it out, no pressure. yes, iwill not lie, i was a bit worried about how we would do it at first. but we planned lots of activities together. we had to think of things that meant all children could access them because they live in different areas, some children may not have gardens, some

might not have the usual sports equipment at home so we planned a range of activities that they could do, making sure they could all do them and access them. give us a couple of your examples, which bits worked well? we all started off with a beat the teacher challenge this morning which has been quite popular, every teacher in the school set a challenge and they videoed themselves doing the challenge and then we upload them for the children to see. i think one of my favourites, my lovely teaching assistant did how many close can you put on in one minute? that was one of our challenges. it sounds one. helen, this should have been an olympic year sadly. i know that can be part of your theme, what were you able to suggest to the children in relation to that? we always start

our sports days with a parade at the beginning of the day so the children we re beginning of the day so the children were given the opportunity to make flags to parade around and actually our key worker children, we are still open for key workers, they still open for key workers, they still had their parade this morning with the flags they made and some children did it at home as well.m is fantastic. we have talked so much about how important it is to try to ta ke about how important it is to try to take what exercise you can during these very difficult times. i wonder whether perhaps you think in fact some good has come out of this? children and parents might have actually realised there are some creative ways they can try and stay active. definitely, it has challenged me, ithink active. definitely, it has challenged me, i think it has challenged me, i think it has challenged the whole teaching team in terms of how we can do this at home. i think the slower pace for everyone has been lovely but at the same time, i think children

exercising together with their parents has been great as well. they also had a zumba session this morning and i don't think any of them would have accessed this before this, so i think some good has come out of this and they have access to things they would not have done before. have they been doing joe wicks in the last seven weeks? they have, we have been putting on for out have, we have been putting on for our key worker children. it was nice to do something slightly different as good asjoe to do something slightly different as good as joe wicks to do something slightly different as good asjoe wicks is. to do something slightly different as good as joe wicks is. everyone loves the beat the teacher thing, i remember that. before i let you go, a broader thought, how are you feeling about schools trying to reopen, when they might reopen? you must have spent an awful lot of the last couple of weeks trying to plan how you can make your school operate with all the social distance and we

know about? i appreciate that you are open for key workers, but has there been a lot of work going on to try and get the school up and running properly? we are still open and doing home learning, so there has been a lot of time spent looking at and following the guidance that is continuing to come out of so we can open safely, but as a school and leaders we are working through that currently. of course. do you get the sense that your staff are looking forward to getting back to work? however brilliant online teaching can be, you go into teaching because you want to spend time nurturing the children face to face. i know, i was speaking to teachers earlier this week and that is what they were saying, most go into teaching wanting to be with children. it is not quite the same being at home learning although we have had lots of ways of keeping in contact with the children. i know the teachers do miss the children as we all do.

yeah, all right. all the best for whenever we do see schools reopen fully. thank you and well done for your ingenious efforts. really lovely to talk to you. let‘s talk more about infection rates because new analysis from public health england and cambridge university suggests the rate of coronavirus transmission in london is far lower than other parts of england, particularly the north east. gateshead council has said it will stick to the previous "stay at home" advice still being used in scotland, wales and northern ireland. that is the decision from gateshead council. let‘s speak now to martin gannon, leader of gateshead council. good afternoon. you want to stick

with the stay—at—home message, is that specifically because of this new data that we are all talking about today or is it a broader decision that you have reached more broadly with your team ? decision that you have reached more broadly with your team? no, is it isn‘t just specifically about the new data. we had a discussion with cabinet members on tuesday where we discussed this and with a wider group of colleagues and all councillors. i think the evidence is backed with what we already knew in gateshead, we know our community is an area which is incredibly challenged stop we have suffered hundred £70 million of cuts from government through austerity. we have multiple deprivation with housing, and the evidence has been

clear, that not only is there a link with general levels of depredation and transmission impact of covid—19. we have evidence that is available at the present time in gateshead, the figures say that in the north—east and humberside it is 0.8. we have evidence that in gateshead it could be as high as 1.1, so we are over one. national advice telling us the lockdown is over is frankly madness to gateshead. and evenin frankly madness to gateshead. and even in gateshead itself, there will be sections of the community where the r rate is well below one and others where it is not. i don‘t want to make a political point, we know our communities, it is too important a point to play party politics with but we know our communities. we work every day, we know the deprivation and the needs and the

vulnerabilities of our community. sorry to interrupt, it is really interesting you say that because clearly it seems to me you are saying i am doing this as a council because this is what our local people would expect. what do you think some people in your district might think, they might have friends who live only a couple of miles away or technically, because there are regional variations, theirfamily and friends might be living in different rules and a different suggestion. it‘s not confusing for people? does it blur the message?” understand that newcastle city council, just across the river tyne from gateshead, have given similar advice to the people of newcastle. i have also spoken to the leader of sutherland city council who is saying the same we are doing. local authorities are not devolved

parliaments, we don‘t have the same powers as scotland, wales and northern ireland but, i think it is clear, this pandemic has a very different impact on very different populations and different communities. i am sorry, but it‘s just not working in terms of it being... whether it is food supply, ppe, testing, tracking and tracing, iam ppe, testing, tracking and tracing, i am sorry, but absolutely... it is not a criticism or a party put a good point, governments do not run services, local authorities do, that is where the expertise is, we have the knowledge, the experience, we need to work in partnership with the local government instead of directing things. thank you very much, interesting to hear your perspective. very interesting on a

day where we are talking so much about increasingly different messages, certainly going out, depending which part of the country you live in. we will touch on that in the next couple of minutes and certainly in the next hour we will talk more about that. now their work is normally highly classified, but military scientists at porton down in wiltshire are now fighting coronavirus. some of the scientists who identified novichok, the nerve agent used in the salisbury poisoning, and researched the ebola outbreak in west africa, are helping analyse covid—19 to find ways of protecting health workers. our defence correspondent jonathan beale has been given exclusive access to the site. it‘s the military‘s secretive and high—security science hub, porton down, first set up during world war i to help britain fight germ warfare, now focused on helping defeat the deadly coronavirus. the bbc has been given exclusive access to the defence, science and technology laboratory, now a secure site

to examine covid—19. now, in this high security facility are high containment laboratories that go up to level four, level four being the highest and most risky, if you like. that would be, for example, ebola. here we are in level three. this is where, at the moment, they are looking at the coronavirus. there are things that porton down can do absolutely the best in the world and they are doing those things as our contribution, defence‘s contribution, to this national effort to get on top of the spread of this very nasty virus. scientists who helped identify the chemical weapon novichok used in the attempted murder of the former russian intelligence officer sergei skripal in salisbury are now using some of those same skills to better understand covid—19. and just as when they were dealing with the nerve agent, they are taking every precaution in dealing with this virus.

in this high security laboratory they are looking behind that screen at live cultures of the virus that causes covid—19. one of the things they are trying to do is to establish how long it can survive on different surfaces. and this is one practical example of how they have already helped. with industry they‘ve been working out ways to safely decontaminate ambulances in minutes without putting health workers at risk. for security reasons we are not allowed to give the full names of the scientists involved. the welsh ambulance service came to us and said that it was taking two of their staff with manual wipes about a5 minutes to clean the back of each ambulance. we looked at automated systems which generate essentially aerosols that decontaminate the rear of those ambulances. defence is playing its part

in this national endeavour to defeat the virus, though this fight is far from over. jonathan beale, bbc news, porton down. let‘s hear more now about plans to ease lockdown restrictions in wales. that is who i am going to talk to, that was a clue. mark drake ford was speaking this afternoon. the first minister mark drakeford had announced what he called a ‘traffic light‘ system but has warned he couldn‘t give a clear timetable for when restrictions would be lifted. mark drakeford mark dra keford making mark drakeford making the point at lunchtime that as far as he is concerned the message is stay—at—home, as we have been hearing from nicola sturgeon as

well. adam price is the leader of plaid cymru — he‘s in cardiff. what do you make of the decision to stick with the stay—at—home message as indeed some other parts of the uk are doing? is that the right approach as far as you are concerned? i think it is the right decision because we are so close to that critical r rate threshold level, the document released said we are between 0.7 and zero point nine. as we have just heard the north—east of england is close to one there and thatis of england is close to one there and that is important, because we know above one we start to get into that dangerous area where we are seeing an exponential rise in cases once again. i think stay—at—home is the right message for wales, it is actually the right message that has been followed in three of the uk nations and i don‘t really

understand why the uk government has decided otherwise. given that it has, what concerns do you have about people travelling, people crossing over? we debate it every time we get toa over? we debate it every time we get to a sunny weekend, but the temptation now, rightly or wrongly, is for people to get out for all the reasons we know about. what concerns do you have that are specific to wales which is a nation that is partly reliant on tourism as an income? absolutely, it has been a problem during the course of the crisis at different times. the lease forces in wales, the chief co nsta bles forces in wales, the chief constables of britain urging the welsh government for further action in order to prevent nonessential travel happening from england and other parts of the uk to wales over the weekend in the coming weeks, because that could undermine our

ability to underline the stay—at—home message and prevent a second wave of infection. your message is to people in england who might be living close to the welsh border who might be tempted to travel, your message is please don‘t? travel, your message is please don't? please don't, it is actually breaking the law in wales but obviously it makes it much more difficult for us to protect people in wales. ultimately, it is not good for anyone if we see a second wave of infection which actually overwhelms our nhs in wales, we will not be able to look after people who live here, we won‘t be able to look after people that are visiting here either. it is a very important message that needs to be carried home to everyone in england, please come to wales when this is all over, we wa nt come to wales when this is all over, we want to welcome you. but for the next couple of weeks and indeed

while we are going through this phase of the crisis, please listen to the message stay—at—home so that we can actually protect people here. thank you very much for now. as we look ahead to the weekend, this is the first since the start of the lockdown were people in england are allowed to travel to exercise or enjoy the open air. but the public are being warned to be extra careful if they‘re thinking of going to the coast. the royal national lifeboat institution says rescue services are still very limited. john maguire reports from porthtowan beach in cornwall. after weeks of lockdown, the great british coastline is more enticing than ever. but it‘s not inviting. if the beach shops were open, the postcards would say, "wish you weren‘t here." one major issue is safety. the rnli that runs lifeguards here at porthtowan on the north cornwall coast is very concerned, especially about day—trippers.

our advice to people, stick within your limits. now is not the time to learn to surf or to learn to kayak, or to venture further out. stay within your absolute limits and keep close family under supervision. whilst the government advice may be to exercise alone, we‘d say exercise with a family member and watch them at all times. for the locals, such as nathan and his family, this is their first chance to get back in the water. they have been pestering me every single night, "can we go to the beach?" so, yeah, quite looking forward to it, really, guys, aren‘t we? yeah. those who live here are normally more than happy to share the beauty of their home with visitors, but warn this beautiful yet rugged coastline can be hazardous. if you‘re local and you know, you know what it‘s like, you are careful and you know, so you‘ve just got to watch your kids, watch yourselves, beware of the tides. and ask people if you‘re not sure before you walk around the side of the cliff and get cut off,

that kind of thing. i've been in surfing for 15 years or so and you know when not to go in, you know what to look for. if you're not confident, then don't risk it. look, this is where the rnli lifeguards would normally be based and, obviously, the surf life—saving club there. one of the most important things they would be doing at a time like this is assessing exactly what the sea state‘s like, what‘s happening, where the dangerous currents are, where the rips are, putting the flags in to let people know where and when not to go swimming and to go surfing to ensure it‘s as safe as possible for people visiting. so, surf‘s up in england at least, yet covid continues to create problems and life remains anything but normal. john maguire, bbc news, cornwall. now it‘s time for a look at the weather. good afternoon, it was quite a cold

and cloudy start to our week but temperatures have been gradually recovering and in actual fact, if you are out in sunshine this morning, like in gloucestershire, it will feel quite pleasant with light winds. if you want drama, look at this across argyll and bute, a beautiful site but some fret threatening looking cloud and that is producing a little bit of rain. the cloud arrive during the days early morning sunshine is clouding over, some glimpses of sunshine developing a crossing lead and wales but generally speaking this weather front will continue to enhance showers into the far north of scotla nd showers into the far north of scotland overnight and with the cloud that means those temperatures are going to hold up above freezing, so are going to hold up above freezing, so it is going to be a frost—free start to the weekend as you see at around a—8d. saturday morning, a clouding up for many but hopefully the cloud were thin and break again for some sunshine and light winds feeling quite pleasant. some scattered showers, the winds are

strengthening in scotland. temperatures, generally at around 12-18d, that is temperatures, generally at around 12—18d, that is where we should be really for a time of year. there is a chance of more significant rain to come across northern ireland and scotla nd come across northern ireland and scotland on sunday, as much as 50 millimetres couple of inches of rain. it will move erratically east through scotland, but further south, more sunshine and as a consequence a little more warmth. temperatures perhaps peaking at 21 degrees. across england and wales, gardeners will tell you we are starting to need some welcome rain, but it looks as if it will stay dry, in fact we will take a look at rainfall accommodations. the darkest blues, the heaviest of the rain, the couple of inches of rain chiefly to the north—west of the great glen, however once we get sunday out of the way it looks like the fine, dry weather is set to return and it is going to warm up again as high

pressure bills. it means the wind direction is going to come in from the south—west. a warm sauce at this time of year so we are widely going to see temperatures into the low 20s as they move through the week. may be on wednesday they could peek at in excess of 25 degrees.

this is bbc news, i‘mjane hill. the headlines: teaching unions are meeting government scientific advisers to seek assurances over safety, amid plans to reopen schools in england next month. wales‘ first minister says he‘s sticking with the stay at home message, and can‘t give a timetable for easing the lockdown. new research finds the coronavirus infection rate in london is now far lower than in other parts of england, particularly the north east and yorkshire. as people in england are now able to travel to enjoy the open air this weekend, the rnli urges extra care by the coast, as lifeboat services remain very limited. and back in the pub — people are socialising again

in sydney, as lockdown ends in australia‘s most populous state. teachers‘ unions are meeting the government‘s scientific advisers, to demand assurances that it will be safe to allow more children to return to schools in england next month. some teachers argue social distancing will be difficult, particularly for young children, and they‘ve called for the government to publish the scientific evidence which suggests the move will be safe. ministers have warned that children from poorer backgrounds will suffer the most if they‘re kept at home, and the head of one of england‘s biggest academy trusts says he‘s ready to reopen all 35 of its primary schools.

elaine dunkley reports. it has been a week of clashes over classes. a row between the government and teaching unions over whether it is safe for primary schools to reopen children in reception, year one and year six from the 1st ofjune. today the teaching unions will meet with the government‘s scientific advisers to seek reassurances. this requires a knowledge which i don‘t have, which is why today‘s meeting with the scientific specialists ought to give us the reassurance about what social distancing will look like in school, what are transmission rates from children to adults and the other things that legitimately parents as well as the teaching profession are quite rightly asking. more guidance has now been published on how schools in england can partially reopen. the government says it is vital that children return to the classroom as soon as possible for learning and well—being. education around how we deal with this virus is an important part of our life, sadly, for the next period of time,

for the next few months at least, until we have got a vaccine in place. i think that is an important part of it as well, but we shouldn't underestimate the importance of giving children, particularly at that young age, the ability to be in school, in a safe environment and getting the education that they need. the oasis trust runs 35 primary schools across england and says the impact of closures will be felt most by children from poorer backgrounds. it is hoping to reopen classrooms from the 1st ofjune. it is exactly the middle of may so we have half a month still to do the fine detail to get ready for this. what i can assure you of, no one‘s health will be put at risk whether it is a child‘s or a staff member‘s or a parent‘s. we respect everything the unions are doing, but we also know that we have to, for the sake of our children, offer them some hope, some education and some nutritious food. teachers are in a difficult position.

for many, it is a dilemma over wanting the best education for children and health and safety concerns. i think sending children and staff back to schools is potentially extremely dangerous in a situation where we don't actually know how that will affect anybody, both physically and mentally. i think mental health—wise, the children will be going back to a very different experience of school, with lots of rules to have to adhere to, with staff who will be understandably very anxious. the coronavirus pandemic poses many challenges to life in our classrooms. it is an emotive issue, but for schools to reopen, teaching unions say scientific evidence must be the basis of solutions. elaine dunkley, bbc news. and that meeting between the trade unions and the government scientific advisers hasjust ended — and we‘ve had this statement

they‘re saying getting children back into school is vital. i want to re—ensure that we are giving families, schools, nurseries and other providers all the guidance and support they will need to welcome more children back in a phased way and no earlier than 1june. many schools are already taking steps to welcome back pupils and i am welcoming the support. that doesn‘t give specifics just marking the end of that meeting. and if we hear any more we will that to you. —— bring that to you. wales‘ first minister, mark drakeford, has set out plans for easing the lockdown there. mr dra keford announced what he called a "traffic light" system, but warned he couldn‘t give a clear timetable for when restrictions would be lifted. hywel griffith reports.

set on its own roots, wales‘ way out of lockdown will be deliberately slow and based on these, a traffic light system. the first stage is red, with little changing, but people will be allowed to receive care and support from one person from outside their home. in the amber phase, some school pupils will return, as more people are allowed to travel to work and meet in small groups. the green light for all pupils to go back to school and unrestricted travel will only come when it‘s certain there is little risk of cases rising and another lockdown. nothing could be worse for our economy, nothing could be a greater ask of our people than to go through this all again. we don‘t want that to happen, that‘s why we are taking this very step—by—step and cautious approach and the traffic light system is there to explain to people in wales how that will work out. unlike england‘s road map there are no dates, just destinations reached only when the virus‘ reproduction rate falls.

that caution is based on concern in welsh hospitals that they couldn‘t cope with an increase in cases, especially in rural areas where a surge of visitors could bring a second wave. i am fearful of outbreaks that will crop up here and there. so there might be family outbreaks, caravan park outbreaks, nursing home outbreaks or indeed hospital ward outbreaks that we‘ve got to be very vigilant towards and be on the lookout for all the time. but those same rural areas are already suffering financially. tourism along the welsh coast should be in full flow by now. instead, the police are carrying out spot checks for day—trippers and fining people found to be making nonessentialjourneys. the spring shutdown may roll into the summer. we will definitely welcome you back when the time is right and when we can all be sure that we will be safer than we are at present from this virus.

when do you hope that might be? who knows. it is a little bit of a finger in the air at the moment. this year? possibly, possibly not. there is no rush to move faster here, however difficult that wait has become. hywel griffith, bbc news. new analysis suggests the rate of coronavirus transmission in london has dropped dramatically. the data, from public health england and cambridge university, suggests the infection rate in the capital is far lower than other parts of england, particularly the north east. also, there has been encouraging news from the oxford team which is searching for a vaccine. our health correspondent richard galpin reports. for weeks, london, with its population of more than 9 million people, was at the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in this country. hospitals here filling up with patients and, later, field hospitals built to provide extra capacity.

but by then, barely needed. this one in east london mothballed — a sign the tide was turning. now, new analysis is indicating the situation in the capital is improving significantly. and this, very different from other parts of england. according to the modelling by public health england and cambridge university, the so—called r number in london, the number of people one person in the city carrying the virus infects, is just 0.a and that means the number of cases is plummeting. but in the north—east and yorkshire, it‘s 0.8, a much slower decrease and not far away from the level of which cases would start to increase. other parts of northern england such as liverpool, also have slower decreases in covid cases, according to the modelling. that impacts the push to lift some

of the key lockdown measures. before, levels of coronavirus infections are higher than anywhere else, then i am not about to take risks with children‘s lives or with staff and teaching and professional‘s lives and we will make sure, as far as i am concerned, it is safe for our children to return to school and only when we are convinced it is safe children can return to school, will we allow it. meanwhile it has been announced there has been a potentially good step forward in oxford university‘s work to develop a vaccine. a small study of monkeys showed the experimental vaccine appeared to offer protection against coronavirus, the monkeys developed antibodies. it is a small and important step, although it does not show whether the coronavirus vaccine will work in humans. richard galpin, bbc news.

a cross—party group of mps has urged the government to bring in a new privacy law to protect people using contact tracing apps. the software could play an important role in letting people know if they‘ve been in contact with anyone who is infected with the virus. an nhs app being trialled on the isle of wight has been downloaded by about half the people there and the common‘s human rights committee says there needs to be more safeguards over the data collected. duncan kennedy reports. the modernity of the nhs contact tracing app may be in contrast to the isle of wight‘s rich heritage, but that hasn‘t stopped around 17,000 people embracing it here. from carisbrooke castle this morning to newport high street, the capital of an island where now more than half the population have downloaded the app, including this man. if i‘m really honest it‘s for my own safety, my family‘s safety and everybody else‘s safety. but for these two friends, the story is more complicated. have you downloaded the app? i haven‘t. i have. why haven‘t you?

my details, i‘m just worried in case they get any of my details of my phone. and why have you? because i want to know if i'm near anyone who's got it. the app electronically connects people who have been close for a period of time. if one person develops covid symptoms they have to inform the nhs, who in turn messages other people to warn them. but since the start of the trial on the isle of wight, some people have had concerns about data privacy and today mps formally called on the government to pass a special app law. this sort of data gathering was never envisaged when the current laws were drawn up. what we are suggesting is you should have a specific, bespoke bill to enable people‘s data to be protected. we have drafted it for the government and they could get it through parliament before the national roll—out. that national roll—out was supposed to be taking place about now, in the middle of may. it is one of the key tools

the government is relying on to keep tabs on covid—19 in the community. and local leaders here say the main lesson they have learned about the app is that persuasion, not compulsion, is the way to bring communities on board. the country as a whole can take this, but it needs to be done carefully, people need for it to be safe and they need to be able to take the opportunity because it is really important for the country really. 70,000 downloads among around 90,000 smartphone users. the ratio here seems strong, but will the nation follow an island to help bring this contagion under control? duncan kennedy, bbc news, on the isle of wight.

let‘s talk a bit more about the data we have had. if you were with us in the last hour, you would have heard me speak to the leader of gateshead‘s council and his reflections on that. downing street has said that some lockdown measures could be eased at different rates in different parts of england. the prime minister‘s official spokesman said the government‘s road map had talked about being responsive to local infection rates, which could lead to different geographical approaches. what are people to make of it all that wherever they live? let‘s speak now to the conservative mp theresa villiers, who is a london mp. what do you make of this idea of different phases, different things happening in different parts of the country at various times? it is really encouraging to see the new case rates coming down throughout the country, particularly in london, so the country, particularly in london,

soi the country, particularly in london, so i think it is important for the government to think seriously about regional variations in lockdown norms because it is crucial that we get our economy going again and if there is safe to do that in some parts of the country and not others then we need to go ahead in those parts where it is safe. it is an interesting debate because scientifically, we can see how this makes sense and we‘re talking a lot today about the new data. i wonder how it would work in practice, because people can drive, people can walk, move to other parts of the country. how does it actually work if you have one city that is open and wona if you have one city that is open and won a couple of hours away that is not? i think we can trust the general public to adapt to a more complex message, including regional variations. they have been incredibly compliant with the lockdown rules, both the original ones and the slightly amended

approach this week. there would be judgments to be made but i think we could trust people to exercise a bit of common sense and so the benefits of common sense and so the benefits of opening up things as as soon as possible is so great, i think we should feel bold enough to trust the general public to be able to operate under a slightly more complex system ina under a slightly more complex system in a common—sense way. under a slightly more complex system in a common-sense way. you would literally put it down to trust and people doing the right thing, because of the economic benefit, is that it? your point in an essence?” think it isjust that it? your point in an essence?” think it is just vital forjobs and businesses that we open up economic activity and work as soon as we can. therefore, i think what that means, potentially lifting the lockdown more quickly in certain areas and i think we should be confident that it is safe to do that because if we give clear messages, which we still can do, even if they are slightly

more complicated than previous messages, people have shown that they will listen, they will act on them and they will use sensible judgments in complying with them.” was chatting in the last hour to the leader of gateshead council, a labour leader as you will know, that he said that he thought it was madness to ease the lockdown. you will be aware of the data that shows today how high the infection rate is in the north—east of england. he says it is madness and that itjust doesn‘t work in this instance because coronavirus is having a different impact in different areas. he said to trust local leaders to know what is right for their businesses and communities. is there cross— party businesses and communities. is there cross—party consensus businesses and communities. is there cross—pa rty consensus on businesses and communities. is there cross—party consensus on this? do you think there are a lot of people who feel this way, that it has to be done region by region?” who feel this way, that it has to be done region by region? i think it will be important for the government when it takes its decisions to

listen carefully to local leaders and after all, we are already in a situation where devolution has given a slightly different approach is and so a slightly different approach is and so extending that to different approaches in different parts of england i think is potentially a logical step. wherever we are across the country, if we bear down on those areas where the risk of infection is greatest, which is essentially in hospitals and care home settings, if we have the most rigorous possible focus on keeping people safe and keeping cases down in those settings, that again it should give us the freedom to open up should give us the freedom to open up economic activity outside those settings and in different parts of the country. just a quick thought before we let you go because you are a london mp. it is less than a week before the prime minister said go back to work if you can‘t work from home, but do not use public transport. go back to work but walk or cycle or drive. today, londoners

get the announcement that from monday, the congestion charge is coming back in in a city where people have been told, do not get on the tube or the buses unless you are a key worker. is that mixed messages? well, it is a difficult situation. i have grave concerns about the mayor of london‘s mismanagement of tfl‘s budget over the last three years and i‘m afraid u nfortu nately the last three years and i‘m afraid unfortunately it looks like londoners are going to be paying the price in an increased congestion charge. if the mayor had taken different decisions on fares, crossrail, some years ago, to quote a phrase affixed he has what the sun was shining, then londoners wouldn‘t be looking at this hit with.

be looking at this hit —— was shining, then londoners wouldn‘t be looking at this hit —— fixed the house while the sun is still shining. it how are people meant to get to work if they are told, getting your car or walk, don‘t get on the tube? well, of course, part of the collapse in a tfl‘s income is due to covid—19 and that is one of the reasons why the government has agreed a one and a half billion pound bailout. but in the next vital step is for the mayor to get public transport capacity up again so more people can travel on it safely because, with the best will in the world, we will not get london back to work unless there are many more people on public transport then there have been over recent weeks. for now, thank you very much. let‘s stay with the situation regarding getting back to work in the capital, because, the congestion charge was removed for the duration

of lockdown but the announcement came through today that it will be coming back on monday. motorists in london will start paying congestion charge and low emission charge from monday, after they were suspended because of coronavirus. it is £11 50 a it is £1150 a day and it will be going up injune. our transport correspondent tom burridge is here. we started talking about it there. london is not the only city with a congestion charge, that is why it is interesting, but just congestion charge, that is why it is interesting, butjust explain all of this and how it fits together in a city that has eight or 9 million people. the two charges together a £2a a day on a weekday foot on a significant amount of money. theresa villiers there, she was essentially talking about the rise of the congestion charge which transport for london says it has been forced to bring in as a result of this government bailout but that is going to ta ke government bailout but that is going to take effect on the 22nd ofjune. the more controversial thing here is, as you are sort of putting on your question, the decision to actually reintroduce the congestion

charge and the ultralow emission chargerfrom monday, this monday, at a time when really i think transport buses across public transport are very wary of managing numbers. we we re very wary of managing numbers. we were out in one of the uk‘s biggest train stations this morning. it was really, really quiet. at the moment, i think the general picture, yes we have seen those pictures on tubes and trains where it has been a bit crowded, the unions have been raising alarms, people have been concerned, but i think broadly, passenger numbers are very down across the uk. the fear and the worry going forward is that more people return to work does make it as people return to work, whether they can manage those bigger numbers. even though you‘re exempting it care workers and nhs staff from this charge, it might push more key workers out of their ca rs push more key workers out of their cars and onto public transport if they can‘t walk or cycle. and if, we

area they can‘t walk or cycle. and if, we are a sort of look into the future, but may be in a couple of weeks, if we have seen a large numbers, and people are raising concerns, i think we will look back and question whether this was the right time to make this decision. yes, in terms of, no transport to love transport for london would say we are bringing in temporary widening for some roads so in temporary widening for some roads soi in temporary widening for some roads so i know they‘re trying to encourage that sort of thing, but this is one of the biggest cities in europe, people could live hours and hours away from where they work and that could be prohibited. they literally cannot get to work on any other way so it is going to force them onto the tube, isn‘t it? even though we are meant to be observing social distancing. it might. both the government and transport for london has said this is a necessary measure because they say that if they don‘t do it, some roads in and out of the capital they fear will become blocked. and that is a

massive effort across the country, in towns and cities, really to make walking and cycling much more appealing and better and safer and thatis appealing and better and safer and that is under way and i‘m already seeing the transformation in the capital, just cycling around. yes, and that applies to lots of urban areas up and that applies to lots of urban areas up and down the country. there areas up and down the country. there are certain cities where it is also are certain cities where it is also a problem. but you are right, people do commute into london from brighton in the south, from rugby and the midlands, people come a long distance in normal times. there are other factors that are difficult to assess on this and that comes down toa assess on this and that comes down to a lot of people working at home and businesses are saying you can continue to work at home, to what extent continue to work at home, to what exte nt d oes continue to work at home, to what extent does that continue and passenger numbers remain down. the key m essa g e passenger numbers remain down. the key message is do not use public transport if you can. tom, for now, thank you very much. doctors speaking out in public about ppe shortages

are being silenced by hospital managers, and in some cases threatened with theirjobs, an investigation by bbc newsnight has found. the doctors association uk have warned that stopping doctors speaking out risks a "culture of fear and self—censorship" and could threaten patient safety. georgina halford—hall is the head of the not—for—profit organisation whistleblowersuk. this is clearly deeply worrying in these instances where it is happening. what knowledge you have about just how happening. what knowledge you have aboutjust how often this is happening? people‘s concerns being sat upon? good afternoon. one of the first things we have to say is we have to praise all of those people who have spoken out so that newsnight could produce this report and bring to the public‘s attention. the really huge issue of speaking out in the nhs and across other

sectors it is really similar. we have received in excess of 100 reports since the 3rd of march from people within the nhs, particularly doctors, and more worryingly, often from consultants, about the lack of ppe inappropriate ppe, or being threatened for raising concerns about ppe. what is your advice to someone about ppe. what is your advice to someone who feels that they have a genuine grievance, they genuinely feel it is an issue of safety that they need to raise? what you say to someone they need to raise? what you say to someone who they need to raise? what you say to someone who comes to they need to raise? what you say to someone who comes to you? we automatically refer people to their own policies and within their organisation, to the local and national guardians, because these are all national guardians, because these a re all structures national guardians, because these are all structures that have been put in place and it is absolutely shocking, and i think it is an indictment of the fact that these internal processes and systems really have failed, when they have to come to an external organisation. we know from experience that it is a

sign of desperation. i have got e—mails and text messages and so on with words like, i am desperate, you are the last port of call, only you can help. which is absolutely shocking, given how much we spend on health care and the systems that are in place to support our front line workers. they shouldn‘t be the ones who are bearing the brunt of this. they have highly experienced, highly paid managers are and they should be providing the right kit and there are various pieces of legislation there. we advise them to raise it immediately and keep raising it and we stand by them and help people to write grievances. the worst part of this is that it a number of people are likely to end up in litigation because of the actions. do you have any breakdown, do keep statistics on who comes to you, if i can put it

that way? are you seeing people at all different grades and job titles and geographical variation? what do you know about that? to give it a broad brush really, it is pretty much the same picture all around the country. i think more is startlingly, it is particularly co nsulta nts. startlingly, it is particularly consultants. over 90% of the co nsulta nts consultants. over 90% of the consultants i have spoken to have been bame. i don‘t draw any conclusions from that because it would be inappropriate to do so at this particular moment but i think thatis this particular moment but i think that is an area that will have to be looked at after this crisis has been dealt with and it is going to take a real global perspective and we need to look at it in terms of, if only we had listened to one whistle—blower, we could have saved

in excess of potentially 300,000 lives globally and our economy is about, we are told, to take a hit of around £6 trillion. the cost of listening to one whistle—blower or listening to one whistle—blower or listening to one whistle—blower or listening to 100 is absolutely huge potentially. well, very good of you to talk to us. thank you. just to tell you that in relation to the newsnight story, a department of health spokesperson responded saying "whistle—blowers perform a vital and courageous service in ensuring safe care and no one should ever be prevented from speaking up, or discriminated against if they do." much more coming up in the next half an hour. now it‘s time for a look at the weather. after a sunny start, with a little

bit more cloud to developing through the afternoon. it has been a quiet day and that cloud is going to stay with us through the evening and overnight. that will act like a blanket preventing those temperatures from falling too far. at the same time we still keep a bit more of a breeze and some outbreaks of light rain into the far north of scotland. but frost free, that will keep gardeners and growers happy for the start of the weekend and potentially, it is the last time we see a significant frost for quite some time. it may will start off cloudy but hopefully the cloud will break and we will see some sunshine, the sun is quite strong at this time of year and with lighter winds it will feel quite pleasant out there. still the risk of a few sharp showers to the far north and west and across northern ireland. temperatures ranging generally around 12 to 18 degrees, pretty much what they should be for this time of year. there is a risk for more heavy, persistent rain for the second half of the weekend into the far north—west but conditions look set to warm up as we go into next week, perhaps into the mid 20s.

hello, this is bbc news with jane hill. the headlines: teaching unions have met government scientific advisers to seek assurances over safety — amid plans to re—open schools in england next month. wales‘s first minister says he‘s

sticking with the stay at home message, and can‘t give a timetable for easing the lockdown. new research finds the coronavirus infection rate in london is now far lower than in other parts of england, particularly the north east and yorkshire. as people in england are now able to travel to enjoy the open air this weekend, the rnli urges extra care by the coast — as lifeboat services remain very limited. and back in the pub — people are socialising again in sydney, as lockdown ends in australia‘s most populus state. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here‘s katherine downes. good afternoon. league two clubs have agreed to cancel the rest of the season. it looks as though the final table will be decided

using a points—per—game method, and there are still plans for the play—offs to take place as usual. with the leagues above and below yet to decide on finalising their seasons, clubs at the top and bottom of league two will have to wait to discover their fate. crewe alexandra, swindon town and plymouth argyle were in the three automatic promotion spots when the season was halted. stevenage were bottom but it‘s understood the clubs agreed they would not be relegated. more information on that coming out this afternoon. league one clubs have failed to reach an agreement on whether to end their season after meeting today — they‘ll discuss the subject again next week. among the clubs with a lot to lose is rotherham, who were in the second automatic promotion spot from league one, when the season was halted. well, i did with my financial director the accounts up to may and it showed rotherham would be £600,000 with cash flow problems by the end of may. if that ran into christmas,

behind closed doors, it would be over £1 million and i think for league 1 and league 2, that would be a disaster and it would follow with a lot of clubs having to go into administration. ligue one yet to make a decision. the next meeting of premier league clubs is set for monday, when players may be able to return to group training, under strict social distancing rules. they‘ve so far been limited to individual sessions so this would be the next step towards restarting the league — which would be good news for liverpool, who are 25 points clear at the top of the table. managerjurgen klopp says he appreciates the steps that have to be taken before any resumption is possible. we all have the same problems and we have to make sure that we do the right things, obviously. in the moment when we can start again the premier league will organise it and all the clubs have to organise it, all the things, training will not be a threat for anybody because when we start there is enough space on the pitches for the players,

so i think the premier league grounds will be the safest places, the training grounds will be the safest places in europe. you can see the full interview with jurgen klopp on football focus tomorrow, as well as a special feature on his formative years as a player and coach in germany. that‘s on bbc 1, from 12 o‘clock. two grands prix are set to be held at silverstone this summer, after the track‘s owners agreed a deal with formula one bosses. f1 are looking to revise their calendar to get enough races completed in the season — so some circuits will host more than one race. however two—week quarantine rules on international arrivals to the uk could scupper the plans — and the races will be subject to government approval. the british grand prix is scheduled for the 19th ofjuly, behind closed doors, with a second race a week later. world rugby has confirmed that all this summer‘s tours have been postponed, due to the coronavirus pandemic. with many countries restricting

movements and some borders closed, it was always expected. england were due to return to japan, where they reached the world cup final last year, to play two matches. head coach eddiejones said the squad was disappointed but it was the right decision in the circumstances. wales were due to tour japan and new zealand, with scotland due in south africa and new zealand, and ireland heading to australia. and in the last quarter of an hour we‘ve heard that a decision has been taken to extend the suspension of professional tennis for another three weeks — there‘ll be no competition until at least the end ofjuly. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. that‘s bbc.co.uk/sport. thank you. just tell you the latest figures that have come through from the department of health, the daily

figures they sent every afternoon. sadly with the latest information about death tolls, people dying with coronavirus. the uk wide number has risen in the last 2a hours by 38a, a risen in the last 2a hours by 38a, a rise of a night of 38a. it means the total number of people who have died with coronavirus in the uk is very nearly 3a,000 now, just a couple under 3a,000 sadly dying with coronavirus since this pandemic began. we will talk more about schools. teachers‘ unions are meeting the government‘s scientific advisers, to demand assurances that it will be safe to allow more children to return to schools in england. the education secretary wants primary schools to begin opening from the 1stjune. there are concerns social distancing may be difficult particularly for young children.

ministers warn that children from poorer backgrounds will suffer the most if they‘re kept at home. but what about secondary schools — and how and when will they reopen. tolu adeoye has spent a day at springwest academy in london to see some of the challenges they‘re facing — and their plans going forward. 0k? this is how a day now starts at springwest academy in felton. the children come in and have their temperature checked and they are also registered by reception. they carry on walking down this corridor to hand washing and you can see we have marked the corridor with two metres distances. the school has nearly 1,000 pupils, but fewer than 20 going at the moment. all children of key workers and those identified as vulnerable. about 12 students in here from years seven, eight and nine and they are now logging onto the morning learning slot which is 10 to 11. they will be logging on to the same lessons as their counterparts are doing at home. almost half the academy‘s kids are what the government

deems as disadvantaged. eligible for free school meals, theirfamilies receiving universal credit. lily is in year seven. it is hard to get work done at home. i have five siblings, three brothers and two sisters, and it‘s really busy because there is a lot of us running around. so have you actually liked coming to school then? yeah. i get to see friends and we speak at lunch and things, but we still have to stay two metres. i like coming into school because then i can do my work in school instead of worrying about doing it all at home when i have things to do at home as well. and how it is a work going at home with the girls? so—so. it is getting them to sit down and do it. later we meet georgina, one of the parents here. she has been finding it more difficult to make ends meet. it is myself and three children, 15, 13. my younger boy has got special needs as well so that is a little bit harder.

so i am hoping that he will be going back to school soon. the teachers have been brilliant, they ring in, check in on us, make sure that everyone is ok. the school has identified that around 20% of its families do not quite qualify for official help, but still need support. passwords, anything like that, you just e—mail. .. mandy has popped in to get a laptop for her granddaughter. how much help is that going to be? oh, a lot. yes, a lot of help. has she had enough to work on? yes, i think she has. it will be much better, she can get online. the school welcomes the ambition for people taking exams next year to have time with teachers before the summer. they have planned a later start time, ten students per class who stay in fixed rooms, and the kids will leave at lunchtime with a takeaway. the greater concern for the head here is the longer term impact of the disruption. it is going to affect communities like ours more so than other communities. i think that disadvantage gap has the potential to really increase.

as ever, i think funding would be really, really helpful. we know that we are going to probably have to support our families more with things like uniform grants. there will be an increase in families applying for free school meals. what we have seen today at springwest academy is reflected at a lot of schools across london. the fight against coronavirus has shown that they are much more than just education providers and that really is fundamental to some of the challenges they are going to face over the coming months. lilly feels her first year at secondary school has been taken away from her. it has gone really fast because we have literallyjust feels like we have just come to the school. she hopes that the virus will not ruin future school years. children‘s minister vicky ford has been answering questions from parents and carers on their concerns during the coronavirus pandemic.

mumsnet hosted the 0&a webchat. rowan davies is from mumsnet. good afternoon. what were the bulk of the comments and queries that came up? what was the government minister asked about by people on yourforum? minister asked about by people on your forum? the biggest concern was safety, how this was going to work and how we could be sure it was not going to affect... spread infection amongst children‘s families and teacher‘s families as well... amongst children‘s families and teacher's families as well... your line is a bit tricky, i‘m going to persist if i can. tell us if you are able ina persist if i can. tell us if you are able in a nutshell, what the minister said to the parents, how much reassurance did she give them?

the during the first date isn‘t a done deal, that might change as we get closer to... —— june the 1st. they are not going to be fined for not sending the children in. she told them it will not be compulsory told them it will not be compulsory to send your children to school. i wonder, because you have probably been looking at this over the course of lockdown, i am sure there has been a lot of chatter about schools, what is... can you summarise what the general feeling is among what is... can you summarise what the generalfeeling is among members of mum‘s net as to the balance, how many are desperate for the school is open and think it is sensible versus those who do not? we think about a0%... so most wouldn‘t but nearly half would. i think we might have to leave it, i am not entirely sure which way the a0% went. maybe we can

re—establish. i‘m sorry about that because it would be really interesting to know what sort of questions people were putting to the children‘s minister, but interesting there is still so much debate about weather it is safe. in australia‘s most populous state the lockdown has been eased with pubs and cafes open again in new south wales, although with strict new rules in place. you can at least go in. there‘s been fewer than 100 deaths across the country during the pandemic, and the government is keen to kick start the economy. shaima khalil reports from sydney. cheers. it‘s the day they‘ve been waiting for after weeks of tight restrictions. back in the pub for a drink but only if you sit down for a meal. here at the royal albert pub they have been fully booked for lunch,

allowed only to serve a maximum of ten customers, while observing strict social distancing and hygiene rules. tables have been set 1.5 metres apart with hand sanitiser and offer instead of the normal sauces and cutlery. it‘s nice, it‘s a little bit different to the usual set up but yeah, it feels good to be back. it'sjust good to relax, you know. a drink after work or even lunchtime on friday. it‘s a small start but still a big day for michael bane, the landlord here. kind of nervous, it‘s almost like opening a new venue now because it‘s totally different ci rcu msta nces. only ten people, but we are happy to have ten. we‘re not going to make millions of dollars but we will make ends meet. and it‘s notjust pubs, all across new south wales, cafes, restaurants and shops and places of worship have also opened their doors. for william welsh, it‘s a step in the right direction, after weeks of only being allowed to serve takeaways. it feels like it's the beginning again of, i guess, everybody is setting a new normal and that's what it is.

we've got tables now open, people can sit down and we can get back to doing what we do best and we feel good. but not everyone is open. some business owners have said the ten people limit is not financially viable and have decided to wait for further easing of restrictions. the leadership is keen to open up the country as soon as possible, but they don‘t want to lose the gains they‘ve made in controlling the virus. health officials have warned that more covid—19 cases are expected with the increase in people‘s movement, but generally, australia is in a much better position than many other countries. that‘s why they are cautiously reopening the economy. but it‘s not the same across the country, while rules are being relaxed in new south wales, restrictions in the state of victoria won‘t be lifted before the end of the month. there are still many limits to daily life here in australia, and people are encouraged to work from home when they can. for now, some are enjoying their small gatherings, even if it may not be business as usual. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, sydney.

makes you quite wistful watching that, doesn‘t it? makes you quite wistful watching that, doesn‘t it? part of the government‘s efforts to ease lockdown restrictions depends heavily on testing for coronavirus — and tracking and tracing any potential carrier. it says it‘s set up the "largest diagnostic testing industry in british history — testing over 1.5 million people", but some experts are critical of how the strategy is being implemented dr bharat pankhania is a senior clinical lecturer at university of exeter medical school, specialising in infectious disease management. thank you for your time, i think we talk so much about other tests, i am not sure we have talked an awful lot about tracking and tracing. what is going on in this country and to your

mind, is whatever is going on, is it sufficient? the fundamentals of controlling an outbreak is to know how it is performing and for us to know how it is performing, we have got to test and we have got to test extensively, therefore we get a precision, an idea about who is infected and who needs to be pulled out of circulation as soon as we know they are infected. and then we also pull out, at the same time, the contacts also pull out, at the same time, the co nta cts of also pull out, at the same time, the contacts of that case and pull them out as well and keep them out. that is fundamental, the bread and butter, of infection control, outbreak management. we are not succeeding because on the one hand, we have built up capacity to test, albeit at a central level, therefore, at a local level the gps etc, do not know the test results and to make it worse, we haven‘t got

the contact tracing that should kick in at the same time simultaneously to pull out all the contacts. we could do better, we must do better, this is urgent. it is not too late to try to rapidly increase the system to try to rapidly increase the syste m now ? to try to rapidly increase the system now? it would still bring some benefit if that was done, in your opinion? it has to be done because we have no other alternative. we went into shutdown for a reason, we wanted to reduce a surge of the number of cases going to hospital and at the same time do our homework and built up the momentum of doing contact tracing and testing simultaneously when we left the shutdown. if you left the shutdown before you are ready to do the test and contact tracing, we will fail again. lockdown is being eased too early by your definition? absolutely, because number one, we

have got too many baccarat number of cases, we have on average reports of 3000 new cases per day and that is of the people tested. amplify that may be double it. we have got a lot of background, number of cases in the community. when you left the lockdown, those people will encounter the virus, get infected, bring it home, spread it around and we haven‘t got the control mechanisms to stop it. of course our lockdown lifting is premature because we are not ready. so when the government says it has set up the government says it has set up the largest diagnostic testing industry in british history, is that not good enough? is it not big enough? that is the government‘s approach to this. is thatjust not true? are there figures not right? it is not responsive, number one because it is centralised. number

two, it is not simultaneous, meaning you can diagnose as much as you like but if you are not contact tracing at the same time, it is symbolic. we need contact tracing and diagnostic at the same time. and i played with the government that it ought to be locally run as well. —— i plead with the government. the central approach is bypassing local experts who know the light of the land, the gps, the very mental health officers, the specialists. we all know how to contact specialists. we all know how to co nta ct a specialists. we all know how to contact a trace. we are experts at this, we do it every day. going one year ahead it will have to be done locally so why are you not starting off locally from the beginning? are there other countries we could have looked at earlier on and said that is where it is working, we should be doing what they are doing?

absolutely, if you look at the south koreans, they have done a marvellous job. just look at the graph, if you look at the graph you feel my goodness me, why did the uk not do this? the south koreans have done a marvellous job of testing, contact tracing, use of applications and other things. nearer home, tracing, use of applications and otherthings. nearer home, germany has done a marvellous job as well. just look at the figures of germany compared to our uk ones, this is concerning. we need to copy others rather than reinvent the uk way when other people have done it so well. that is interesting because when you give the south korea example people will be listening and saying the uk has a very different approach, cultural attitude, towards privacy, data protection and that sort of thing. that is an issue though, isn‘t it? we are not comparing like with like. i smile and i look at you andi

with like. i smile and i look at you and i say yes but no but yes. that is why i didn‘t use the china example because only china can do what china can do whereas south korea is a little bit more relaxed. but at the same time we have got an emergency. this is dire, this is really important so whilst you may not be able to be as draconian as the south koreans, what about the germans? that is a similar culture to us and they have done a marvellous job. a bit to us and they have done a marvellousjob. a bit of to us and they have done a marvellous job. a bit of germany and a bit of emphasis from south korea, we would be different place. fascinated to hear your perspective. thank you very much. this weekend is the first since the start of the lockdown when people in england are allowed to travel to exercise and enjoy the open air. but the public are being warned to be extra careful if they‘re thinking of going to the coast. the royal national lifeboat institution says rescue services are still very limited. john maguire reports

from porthtowan beach in cornwall. after weeks of lockdown, the great british coastline is more enticing than ever. but it‘s not inviting. if the beach shops were open, the postcards would say, "wish you weren‘t here." one major issue is safety. the rnli that runs lifeguards here at porthtowan on the north cornwall coast is very concerned, especially about day—trippers. our advice to people, stick within your limits. now is not the time to learn to surf or to learn to kayak, or to venture further out. stay within your absolute limits and keep close family under supervision. whilst the government advice may be to exercise alone, we‘d say exercise with a family member and watch them at all times. for the locals, such as nathan and his family, this is their first chance to get back in the water. they have been pestering me every single night, "can we go to the beach?"

so, yeah, quite looking forward to it, really, guys, aren‘t we? yeah. those who live here are normally more than happy to share the beauty of their home with visitors, but warn this beautiful yet rugged coastline can be hazardous. if you‘re local and you know, you know what it‘s like, you are careful and you know, so you‘ve just got to watch your kids, watch yourselves, beware of the tides. and ask people if you‘re not sure before you walk around the side of the cliff and get cut off, that kind of thing. i've been in surfing for 15 years or so and you know when not to go in, you know what to look for. if you're not confident, then don't risk it. look, this is where the rnli lifeguards would normally be based and, obviously, the surf life—saving club there. one of the most important things they would be doing at a time like this is assessing exactly what the sea state‘s like, what‘s happening, where the dangerous currents are, where the rips are, putting the flags in to let people know where and when not to go swimming and to go surfing to ensure it‘s as safe as possible

for people visiting. so, surf‘s up in england at least, yet covid continues to create problems and life remains anything but normal. john maguire, bbc news, cornwall. social isolation gets to all of us — no matter how big or small. three peruvian penguins from kansas city zoo in the us have been given a day pass to tour a museum at their leisure. for reasons i still don‘t understand. where can we get one of those? zoo keepers said it was a chance to boost their spirits as they miss social interaction. what about us? not that i am bitter. now it‘s time for a look at the weather. good afternoon, it was quite a cold and cloudy start to our week but temperatures have been gradually recovering and in actual fact,

if you are out in sunshine this morning, like in gloucestershire, it will feel quite pleasant with light winds. if you want drama, look at this across argyll and bute, a beautiful sight but some threatening—looking cloud and that is producing a little bit of rain. the clouds arrive during the day so early morning sunshine is clouding over, some glimpses of sunshine developing across england and wales but generally speaking this weather front will continue to enhance showers into the far north of scotland overnight and with the cloud that means those temperatures are going to hold up above freezing, so it is going to be a frost—free start to the weekend as you can see at around a—8d. saturday morning, a cloudy note for many but hopefully the cloud will thin and break again for some sunshine and light winds feeling quite pleasant. some scattered showers, the winds are strengthening in scotland.

widely in excess of 30 mile per hour. temperatures, generally at around 12—18d, that is where we should be really for the time of year. there is a chance of more significant rain to come across northern ireland and scotland on sunday, as much as 50 millimetres, a couple of inches of rain. it will move erratically east through scotland, but further south, more sunshine and as a consequence a little more warmth. temperatures perhaps peaking at 21 degrees. across england and wales, gardeners and growers will tell you we are starting to need some welcome rain, but it looks as if it will stay dry, in fact we will take a look at rainfall accumulations. the darker blues, the heaviest of the rain, the couple of inches of rain chiefly to the north—west of the great glen, however once we get sunday out of the way it looks like the fine, dry weather is set to return and it is going to warm up again as high pressure builds. it means the wind direction is going

to come in from the south—west. a warm source at this time of year so we are widely going to see temperatures into the low 20s as they move through the week. maybe on wednesday they could peak in excess of 25 degrees.

this is bbc news, i‘m reeta chakrabarti. the headlines: teaching unions have met government scientific advisers to seek assurances over safety, amid plans to reopen schools in england next month. wales‘ first minister announces a cautious plan for easing the lockdown, saying he can‘t give a timetable. the number of people who‘ve died in the uk, in all settings, after testing positive for coronavirus, has risen by 38a, taking the total number of deaths tojust below 3a,000. new research finds the coronavirus infection rate in london is now far lower than in other parts of england, particularly the north east and yorkshire. as people in england are now able to travel to enjoy the open air this weekend, the rnli urges extra care by the coast, as lifeboat services

remain very limited. and back in the pub — people are socialising again in sydney, as lockdown are eased in australia‘s most populous state. the education secretary gavin williamson has promised that all schools in england will be given the guidance and support they need to begin reopening next month. earlier today teachers‘ unions met the government‘s scientific advisers to demand assurances that it will be safe to allow more children to return to schools in england. some teachers argue social distancing will be difficult, particularly for young children, and they‘ve called for the government to publish the scientific evidence which suggests the move will be safe.

ministers have warned that children from poorer backgrounds will suffer the most if they‘re kept at home. our chief political correspondent vicki young is in westminster. yes, as you say, this meeting between some of the unions and the scientific advisers and chief medical officer, really try to get some answers to some questions ahead ofjune the 1st, which is the first date that primary schools will be asked to reopen, beyond being open for the children of key staff and vulnerable children as well. there isa vulnerable children as well. there is a lot of anxiety about this, some of it from parents, some of it from teachers themselves, who of course wa nt to teachers themselves, who of course want to make sure that children are safe, that they are safe, so a lot of reassurance being asked for and a lot of guidance. there has been some advice from the department for education. they have said that social distancing of course, certainly amongst the younger years, which is the ones we‘re talking about here, reception, nursery if there is a nursery at the school

site or year one, it is much harder of course to keep them two metres apartand a of course to keep them two metres apart and a lot of work will have to be done on all of that. the department for education is advising smaller class sizes, teachers sticking with that one group and not overlapping during playtime and brea ks overlapping during playtime and breaks for example and keeping people apart as much as they can. gavin williamson, the education secretary, has put out a statement saying... has put out a statement saying... that is the message from the government that this is very much a phased reintroduction of children back into schools. he goes on to say... there is another meeting, i understand, going on between some of the unions and the department for education as they try and work towards this date as a possible start point but a lot of preparation

will need to be done and the unions still have lots of questions. they say there are still questions about how children transmit this virus. of course, the scientists themselves aren‘t pretending they have all the a nswe rs. aren‘t pretending they have all the answers. they say they are very much at the beginning of understanding this coronavirus and some of these things might be impossible to answer and in the end, this is going to be and in the end, this is going to be a very tricky one of the ministers who are very keen to get children back to school, particularly, as they say, the ones from poorer backgrounds who might suffer more from falling behind if they are off school until september. ok, many thanks for all of that. we‘ll be talking to you a little bit later, just ahead of the daily government briefing from downing street. with me is the mayor of liverpool, joe anderson. also i‘m joined by alun ebenezer is the headteacher of the state—funded free school fulham boys school. thank you both very much forjoining us thank you both very much forjoining us here on bbc news. a very difficult question that there is

about reopening schools, isn‘t it? very controversial. joe anderson, you don‘t think that liverpool is ready yet to have the schools open. why not? vickyjust talked about the scientists not yet been convinced about coronavirus and what the impact on children is and there are some unanswered questions and that means for me that there is a potential risk there and i don‘t wa nt to ta ke potential risk there and i don‘t want to take risks with children‘s lives or staff‘s lives. in liverpool, we have been told that the r rate is higher in liverpool than in other parts of the country. this isn‘t a political issue for me. i‘m not doing this because i happen to bea i‘m not doing this because i happen to be a laid—back mayor of liverpool, i am doing it because i am concerned about the safety of children and staff. —— labour mayor. if the rate of infection in

liverpool is lower in three weeks‘ time or two weeks‘ time, then yes we can have a look at that, but at this junction, the government seem to be giving out the message that we want kids to return on the 1st ofjune. here in liverpool, our children after half term wouldn‘t return till the 15th of june, after half term wouldn‘t return till the 15th ofjune, so we have got to be absolutely sure, and i want to be absolutely sure, that the environment of our schools are safe for our children and staff to return it to. that is all we are saying. i‘m just going to jump it to. that is all we are saying. i‘m just going tojump in it to. that is all we are saying. i‘m just going to jump in there because what is being recommended is that it because what is being recommended is thatitis because what is being recommended is that it is only certain years that go back to school, certain primary school years initially and then maybe in secondary school years ten and 12 before the summer holidays. that system has an in—built idea of social distancing in it, doesn‘t it? it wouldn‘t be term as we normally know it. that is a view that it has

because it has social distancing, but what happens for instance, if children in the reception side of things, it would be really difficult to try to keep apart, but even in the year six and the transition through to secondary school, again, these are primary children that it would be difficult to keep apart. we have a responsibility, notjust to the children of course, but to the teaching staff and to the parents and four grandparents that might be living with children. we have got to make sure that we feel as a local authority, as a city, really co mforta ble authority, as a city, really comfortable that it is safe and it isa comfortable that it is safe and it is a safe environment for our children to go to. ok, i want to bring in alun. you are the head teacher of full on boy school in london. the head teacher of a secondary school, so you wouldn‘t be looking immediately to have children backin looking immediately to have children back in june. although

looking immediately to have children back injune. although you are keen to get classes started again, explain why? —— fulham boys school. i agree with the mayor, it has got to be safe, but i think it is unhelpful that comments have come out about not engaging with the government, telling teachers not to engage with their leaders... this is the unions? i think it is important that we get children back in school as soon as that we get children back in school as soon as possible because the longer they are out of school, however good remote learning is, the gaps between the haves and have—nots is going to widen. a0% come from social deprivation, the longer this goes on, the greater the gaps will happen. i think we have got to think about the mental health of young people. for us, we are keen to get children back in school. obviously, different families, different boys have got different situations with their health as well as staff, but we are keen to get children back

into school as quickly as we can. how can you ensure parents that the environment you provide will be safe ? environment you provide will be safe? i think the government have to be realistic for i think it is very difficult to practice social distancing in a school. i think is very hard, even lining up for lunch, to get children to be two metres apart soi to get children to be two metres apart so i think it has be a realistic approach to that, but we will do all we can, like we were before the lockdown, to make sure that the boys and staff are safe as they come to school, when they are in school, when they go home from school, but it think it is unhelpful for different unions to be saying not to engage in debate and discussion. at war, we put our politics aside, we work together to find a way forward to ensure that we can get people into school as safely as possible but as quickly as possible. while you are speaking there, joe anderson was shaking his

head. i want to put one question to both of you and i will askjoe to reply first. the science is unclear but it does appear that children are less affected by this virus, they have milder symptoms and the rates of transmission between children are thought to be less. when it comes to sending them back to school, we are effectively having to decide between children‘s education versus the staff‘s health? children‘s education versus the staff's health? education is crucially important. i‘ve worked in education in 25 years. i understand how important it is for children not to miss education and for the mental health and well—being. all of that is fine but we shouldn‘t be taking risks. why is it that the government is saying don‘t use public transport because you can transmit this disease or you‘re not safe using public transport, but they want to send kids back to school? look, is safe to do so, that is when we should return it children‘ss back to

school. when they say we can‘t... if it‘s not safe, it is too risky for children to go back for my liking. it is not a political point, it is the safety of children that is paramount. and alun, how do you a nswer paramount. and alun, how do you answer that question? it is a balance between the children‘s education and the staff‘s health. balance between the children‘s education and the staff's health.” don't think you can have a blanket approach to this and insist that every child and every member of staff returns to work. i think you have to take into consideration people's different personal circumstances, but we should be working together to find a way to get children back into school as soon as get children back into school as soon as possible and like i say, i think it is unhelpful for anyone to be taking a position and saying

don't engage in debates and to be difficult and awkward. we need to work together to get our children back to school as soon as possible for their good, for the country's good, fun their families good, when it is safe to do so. we will have to live it there, heated and emotional debate this one. thank you very much indeed. some news to bring you from our health correspondent who is saying that the r number, these transmission rate of coronavirus in the uk, has increased and is close to the point where coronavirus cases that could increase according to government scientific advice. the r number, he reminds us, it needs to be kept below one in order to stay in control of cases, but to the figures from the sage group of scientific advisers say it now sits between 0.7 and one and this figure

doesn‘t factor in the changes to lockdown that were announced by the prime minister on sunday and that have been coming into effect this week. then, the r number had been sitting at just below week. then, the r number had been sitting atjust below one, somewhere between 0.5 and 0.9. i‘m sure we will have more questions on that piece of news in the daily news briefing which is coming up at around about 5pm. the welsh first minister has unveiled what he‘s called a "traffic light roadmap" to lead the country out of lockdown, which will apply to reopening schools, playing sports and using public services. the different colours will respresent the extent of restrictions being eased, with green meaning wales was on top of the virus. but mark drakeford said he would continue to take a cautious approach. i‘m not going to say that anybody has been responsible. there are choices to be made here and you can argue the case in more than one way. across the world, there are some countries that have chosen to set out a date—driven road map to coronavirus and there are others, new zealand, australia,

the north of ireland executive earlier this week, and now wales, that prefers to set out a sequence, a pathway that people can follow and i have done it for the reasons that we said. what i can say to people in wales is that with the changes we made at the start of this week, that journey has begun, that we set out in the sequence they can see, in that traffic light sequence, how events can move in the future. it tells people how we will make decisions as to when the right moment has come to move from one zone into the other and while that doesn‘t give people that sort of calendar—type approach, i think it does give people who study the document a pretty clear sense of the right direction that we are setting out on, the steps that we will need to take, the test that we will apply and all of that always seen through the lens of public health and keeping us all safe.

tomos morgan is in cardiff. mark drakeford, mark dra keford, like mark drakeford, like his counterpart in scotland, has been keen in the last few weeks to show that he is the person to decide on policy in this area, given the devolved situation, but it feels as if we have been given less information there than might have been expected. i think at the moment the planet may still be in development, it is a criticism that plaid cymru have said, immediately after those plans we re said, immediately after those plans were announced. this is still a work in progress and as things develop and as we move into potentially be read sent sometime into the next few weeks, if that is allowed, then they will take further consideration on

what those are easing of restrictions r. —— red zone. but at the moment the detail is thinner. what we do know that garden centres opened, people can go out more than once a day, and if we were to start that traffic light plan then we can see further easing again. but there are other things going on that will be different to england and the other devolved nations and mark dra keford other devolved nations and mark drakeford is making it clear that he is basing all his decisions on the scientific and medical evidence he is receiving from his professionals here in wales and so are the other devolved administration leaders in the other countries of the uk. when it comes to things like second homes and travelling across the country, i think mark drakeford said several times he doesn‘t envisage that happening quite... quite in the

distance, really, so it wouldn‘t happen in the next stage of easing restrictions and might not happen in the stage after that. with school, it has been made clear by the welsh government that during the first, there will not be any opening of schools here and i think the more that this goes on it, there is a question marks as to whether any children will be returning to schools in wales before the summer break. i think the welsh government wa nted break. i think the welsh government wanted to try and do that if possible and the education minister here in wales had said that she would aim to do that but of course she will follow the guidance. she doesn‘t want to put a timetable on it, as mark drakeford said, because they don‘t fall into that trap of being stuck into a timeframe. a cautious approach by mark drakeford. we have done this the whole way through but he says it is the right approach for wales and based on scientific and medical evidence. many thanks. a cross—party group of mps has urged

the government to bring in a new privacy law to protect people using contact tracing apps. the software could play an important role in letting people know if they‘ve been in contact with anyone who is infected with the virus. an nhs app being trialled on the isle of wight has been downloaded by about half the people there and the common‘s human rights committee says there needs to be more safeguards over the data collected. duncan kennedy reports. the modernity of the nhs contact tracing app may be in contrast to the isle of wight‘s rich heritage, but that hasn‘t stopped around 17,000 people embracing it here. from carisbrooke castle this morning to newport high street, the capital of an island where now more than half the population have downloaded the app, including this man. if i‘m really honest it‘s for my own safety, my family‘s safety and everybody else‘s safety. but for these two friends, the story is more complicated. have you downloaded the app? i haven‘t. i have. why haven‘t you?

my details, i‘m just worried in case they get any of my details off my phone. and why have you? because i want to know if i'm near anyone who's got it. the app electronically connects people who have been close for a period of time. if one person develops covid symptoms they have to inform the nhs, who in turn messages other people to warn them. but since the start of the trial on the isle of wight, some people have had concerns about data privacy and today mps formally called on the government to pass a special app law. this sort of data gathering was never envisaged when the current laws were drawn up. what we are suggesting is you should have a specific, bespoke bill to enable people‘s data to be protected. we have drafted it for the government and they could get it through parliament before the national roll—out. that national roll—out was supposed to be taking place about now, in the middle of may.

it is one of the key tools the government is relying on to keep tabs on covid—19 in the community. and local leaders here say the main lesson they have learned about the app is that persuasion, not compulsion, is the way to bring communities on board. the country as a whole can take this, but it needs to be done carefully, people need for it to be safe and they need to be able to take the opportunity because it is really important for the country really. 70,000 downloads among around 90,000 smartphone users. the ratio here seems strong, but will the nation follow an island to help bring this contagion under control? duncan kennedy, bbc news, on the isle of wight. their work is normally highly classified, but military scientists at porton down in wiltshire are now fighting coronavirus. some of the scientists who identified novichok, the nerve agent used in the salisbury poisoning, and researched the ebola outbreak in west africa, are helping analyse covid—19 to find

ways of protecting health workers. our defence correspondent jonathan beale has been given exclusive access to the site. it‘s the military‘s secretive and high—security science hub, porton down, first set up during world war i to help britain fight germ warfare, now focused on helping defeat the deadly coronavirus. the bbc has been given exclusive access to the defence, science and technology laboratory, now a secure site to examine covid—19. now, in this high security facility are high containment laboratories that go up to level four, level four being the highest and most risky, if you like. that would be, for example, ebola. here we are in level three. this is where, at the moment, they are looking at the coronavirus. there are things that porton down can do absolutely the best in the world and they are doing those things as our contribution,

defence‘s contribution, to this national effort to get on top of the spread of this very nasty virus. scientists who helped identify the chemical weapon novichok used in the attempted murder of the former russian intelligence officer sergei skripal in salisbury are now using some of those same skills to better understand covid—19. and just as when they were dealing with the nerve agent, they are taking every precaution in dealing with this virus. in this high security laboratory they are looking behind that screen at live cultures of the virus that causes covid—19. one of the things they are trying to do is to establish how long it can survive on different surfaces. and this is one practical example of how they have already helped. with industry they‘ve been working out ways to safely decontaminate ambulances in minutes without putting health workers at risk.

for security reasons we are not allowed to give the full names of the scientists involved. the welsh ambulance service came to us and said that it was taking two of their staff with manual wipes about a5 minutes to clean the back of each ambulance. we looked at automated systems which generate essentially aerosols that decontaminate the rear of those ambulances. defence is playing its part in this national endeavour to defeat the virus, though this fight is far from over. jonathan beale, bbc news, porton down. in australia‘s most populous state the lockdown has been eased with pubs and cafes open again in new south wales, although with strict new rules in place. there‘s been fewer than 100 deaths across the country and the government is keen to kick start the economy. shaimaa khalil reports. cheers. it‘s the day they‘ve been waiting for after weeks of tight restrictions.

back in the pub for a drink, but only if you sit down for a meal. here at the royal albert, they have been fully booked for lunch, allowed only to serve a maximum of ten customers, while observing strict social distancing and hygiene rules. tables have been set 1.5 metres apart with hand sanitiser and offer instead of the normal sources and cutlery. it‘s nice, it‘s a little bit different to the usual set up but yeah, it feels good to be back. it'sjust good to relax, you know. a drink after work or even lunchtime on friday. it‘s a small start but still a big day for michael bane, the landlord here. kind of nervous, it‘s almost like opening a new venue now because it‘s totally different ci rcu msta nces. only ten people, but we are happy to have ten. we‘re not going to make millions of dollars but we will make ends meet. and it‘s notjust pubs, all across new south wales, cafes,

restaurants, shops and places of worship have also opened their doors. for william walsh, it‘s a step in the right direction, after weeks of only being allowed to serve takeaways. it feels like it‘s the beginning again of, i guess, everybody is saying a new normal and that‘s what it is. we‘ve got tables now open, people can sit down and we can get back to doing what we do best and we feel good. but not everyone is open. some business owners have said the ten people limit is not financially viable and have decided to wait for further easing of restrictions. the leadership is keen to open up the country as soon as possible, but they don‘t want to lose the gains they‘ve made in controlling the virus. health officials have warned that more covid—19 cases are expected with the increase in people‘s movement, but generally, australia is in a much better position than many other countries. that‘s why they are cautiously reopening the economy. but it‘s not the same across the country, while rules are being relaxed in new south wales, restrictions

in the state of victoria won‘t be lifted before the end of the month. there are still many limits to daily life here in australia, and people are encouraged to work from home when they can. for now, some are enjoying their small gatherings, even if it may not be business as usual. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, sydney. this weekend is the first since the start of the lockdown when people in england are allowed to travel to exercise and enjoy the open air. but the public are being warned to be extra careful if they‘re thinking of going to the coast. john maguire reports from porthtowan beach in cornwall. after weeks of lockdown, the great british coastline is more enticing than ever. but it‘s not inviting. if the beach shops were open, the postcards would say, "wish you weren‘t here." one major issue is safety. the rnli that runs lifeguards here at porthtowan on the north cornwall coast is very concerned, especially about day—trippers.

our advice to people, stick within your limits. now is not the time to learn to surf or to learn to kayak, or to venture further out. stay within your absolute limits and keep close family under supervision. whilst the government advice may be to exercise alone, we‘d say exercise with a family member and watch them at all times. for the locals, such as nathan and his family, this is their first chance to get back in the water. they have been pestering me every single night, "can we go to the beach?" so, yeah, quite looking forward to it, really, guys, aren‘t we? yeah. those who live here are normally more than happy to share the beauty of their home with visitors, but warn this beautiful yet rugged coastline can be hazardous. if you‘re local and you know, you know what it‘s like, you are careful and you know, so you‘ve just got to watch your kids, watch yourselves, beware of the tides. and ask people if you‘re not sure before you walk around the side

of the cliff and get cut off, that kind of thing. i've been in surfing for 15 years or so and you know when not to go in, you know what to look for. if you're not confident, then don't risk it. look, this is where the rnli lifeguards would normally be based and, obviously, the surf life—saving club there. one of the most important things they would be doing at a time like this is assessing exactly what the sea state‘s like, what‘s happening, where the dangerous currents are, where the rips are, putting the flags in to let people know where and when not to go swimming and to go surfing to ensure it‘s as safe as possible for people visiting. so, surf‘s up in england at least, yet covid continues to create problems and life remains anything but normal. john maguire, bbc news, cornwall. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with louise lear. after a sunny start, we‘ve a little bit more cloud

developing through the afternoon. but it has been a quiet day and that cloud is going to stay with us through the evening and overnight. that will act like a blanket preventing those temperatures from falling too far. at the same time we still keep a bit more of a breeze and some outbreaks of light rain into the far north of scotland. but frost free, that will keep gardeners and growers happy for the start of the weekend and potentially, it is the last time we see a significant frost for quite some time. it may will start off cloudy but hopefully the cloud will break and we will see some sunshine, the sun is quite strong at this time of year and with lighter winds it will feel quite pleasant out there. still the risk of a few sharp showers to the far north and west and across northern ireland. temperatures ranging generally around 12 to 18 degrees, pretty much what they should be for this time of year. there is a risk for more heavy, persistent rain for the second half of the weekend into the far north—west but conditions look set to warm up as we go into next week, perhaps into the mid 20s.

this is bbc news. the headlines at a.30: teaching unions and government scientific advisers are continuing to meet this afternoon to seek assurances over safety — amid plans to re—open schools in england next month. wales‘ first minister says he‘s sticking with the stay at home message, and can‘t give a timetable for easing the lockdown. new research finds the coronavirus infection rate in london is now far lower than in other parts of england, particularly the north east and yorkshire. as people in england are now able to travel to enjoy the open air this weekend, the rnli urges extra care by the coast — as lifeboat services remain very limited. and back in the pub — people are socialising again